KCFD employees convicted of serious crimes weren't disciplined, union filing reveals
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Union filing cites KCFD employees with serious crimes who faced no discipline
- Arbitrator reinstates Biscari, ruling fatal on-duty crash warrants short suspension
- City argued duty status mattered; arbitrator found discipline inconsistently applied
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The KCFD Files
A series of stories highlights Kansas City Fire Department employees who have been charged with serious crimes — including fatal crashes, a felony drug case and multiple DWIs — and were allowed to remain on the job, some for years.
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Five Kansas City Fire Department employees who have been involved in motor vehicle tragedies or convicted of serious felonies over the years were not disciplined and were allowed to remain on the job, a new court filing reveals.
The incidents include a federal drug case, a felony assault conviction, crashes resulting in fatalities and the death of a child struck by a fire truck.
Fire department records show that two of those employees convicted of felonies are still on the KCFD payroll.
The five cases were cited by the firefighters’ union as examples of what it argued was the city’s unfair treatment of Dominic Biscari, who was driving a pumper truck that was involved in a December 2021 crash in Westport that killed three people.
The Star has reported in recent months about firefighters charged with serious crimes who remained on the employee rolls. Those cases include Deonte’ Watson, a firefighter charged with sodomy and rape in 2023 who then pleaded guilty to harassment and was sentenced to three years’ probation.
In another case, former fire captain Christopher Siegel kept his job for 16 months even after being arrested on a felony DWI charge in 2023 — his fourth case of driving while intoxicated since 2016. All four incidents occurred when he was employed by KCFD.
Soon after Biscari pleaded guilty in February 2023 to three counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three years of probation, the fire department announced its intention to fire him and suspended him without pay pending an internal investigation.
The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42 filed a grievance to block Biscari’s termination, and an arbitrator ruled in Biscari’s favor in March 2024, saying he deserved no more than a three-day unpaid suspension for the fatal crash.
The city appealed the award, contending that arbitrator Leland Shurin had exceeded his authority, and the court sent it back to Shurin to resolve the issues raised by the city. After further attempts at mediation failed, Shurin issued a modified and final award on Aug. 18.
Local 42, which represents most KCFD employees, filed a document in Jackson County Circuit Court last week asking the court to enter an order confirming the award and directing the city to fully comply with its terms.
The award, which was included in the court filing, said that Biscari must get his job back, receive full back wages and benefits and serve a three-day suspension without pay. It also said Biscari is authorized to drive a fire apparatus vehicle and work overtime.
In addition, the arbitration award said that the city and the Kansas City Fire Department must remove any records other than the three-day suspension from Biscari’s personnel file and KCFD files. The records, it said, must state only that “he was involved in a MVA (motor vehicle accident) while on duty which with his negligence and along with the negligence of others resulted in fatalities.”
Shurin said Biscari was entitled to “just cause.”
“Therefore, his discipline cannot be more than the discipline of similarly situated employees,” Shurin wrote. “I find that the greater weight of the evidence is that Mr. Biscari has been disciplined to a greater degree than similarly situated employees.”
Other firefighters not disciplined
In testimony to Shurin during the arbitration process, Local 42 cited examples of other Kansas City firefighters who were involved in serious crimes and deadly crashes but were not disciplined by the city to the same extent as Biscari.
Those examples were redacted by Local 42 but used by Shurin to support his finding that Biscari was not disciplined in the same manner as other employees. The Star went to court to seek the release of the information that spelled out which firefighters the union was referring to and the details of the incidents, but the city and the union successfully fought to keep the information secret.
In the union’s court filing last week, however, the details were no longer redacted. The information was included in the arbitrator’s opinion that found in Biscari’s favor.
Shurin wrote that Local 42 Business Agent Stephen Davis “offered uncontradicted testimony regarding KCFD employees who were involved in serious motor vehicle accidents and were not disciplined.”
“He also offered evidence of employees who had been convicted of, or who had pled guilty to serious felonies, and who were not disciplined.”
Tim Dollar, a Kansas City attorney who represented the family of one of Biscari’s crash victims, was stunned at the examples the union provided. People with criminal records shouldn’t be allowed to hold safety-sensitive positions, Dollar said.
“This isn’t an argument in favor of restoring Biscari,” he said. “It’s an indictment of the fire department generally.”
When asked for comment, Local 42 attorney Raymond Salva told The Star that the union deals strictly with issues involving the collective bargaining agreement, not the behavior of members.
“The union’s position in these disputes is that we have a very narrow lane, and that deals only with breaches of the CBA,” Salva said. “The morality of the arguments and the decisions and the process doesn’t enter into the union’s calculus when it comes to defending rights under the CBA.”
“Local 42 officers, and as an organization, has a duty to its members to fairly represent them in all matters related to the workplace,” Salva said. “As counsel for the union, my law firm has a legal duty to defend and assert the rights of Local 42 to the best of our ability, without regard for the collateral issues that may arise from our defense thereof and our assertion of those rights.”
He suggested those questions should be taken up with the fire department.
“I think KC fire probably should have something to say about it.”
Local 42 president Dan Heizman agreed with Salva.
“It’s not the union’s job to discipline our members,” Heizman said. “That’s the fire department’s job. We have a duty to fairly represent our members, a legal duty, and that’s what we do.”
Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins, a KCFD spokesman, referred questions to the city. Spokeswoman Sherae Honeycutt said the city can’t comment on legal matters.
Firefighter keeps job despite assault conviction
Among the examples Local 42 gave the arbitrator was the case of Kansas City firefighter Pleaze Robinson III, who was charged on Aug. 27, 2019, with third-degree assault — a class E felony — after he allegedly attacked a woman during a road rage incident near Raytown High School.
Prosecutors alleged that Robinson, then 52, grabbed the victim from behind and “body slammed” her onto the pavement, then sat on her back and punched her in the head about 30 times. Police said the victim was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
On Sept. 26, 2019, Local 42 was advised that Robinson had been suspended without pay, the union said in the testimony provided to Shurin.
A grand jury indictment was issued on Oct. 4, 2019, charging Robinson with first-degree assault, a class A felony; leaving the scene of an accident, a class E felony; and operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner, a class A misdemeanor.
Robinson was placed on unpaid leave starting that day, the arbitration document said, and Local 42 filed a grievance on Oct. 9, 2019. Robinson was retroactively paid for the period from Sept. 25 to the Oct. 4 grand jury indictment then placed on unpaid leave starting Oct. 4. The city agreed that if Robinson was granted probation in his case, he would immediately be returned to work and his pay status would be “made whole,” the document said.
Robinson pleaded guilty in February 2022 to second-degree assault, a class D felony, and leaving the scene of an accident. He was sentenced to four years’ probation and 30 days of shock incarceration. He also kept his job with the fire department. Fire department employee rolls show that Robinson is a fire apparatus operator with a 2025 salary of $104,332.
“Robinson was reinstated and made whole, in every regard,” the union said in the arbitration document. “As of this date, he is still working at KCI Airport, with FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Clearance.”
The document didn’t include additional charges that Robinson is facing. In 2024, he was charged in Platte County with two felonies — first-degree harassment and first-degree property damage — for allegedly urinating on a female co-worker’s personal and professional belongings.
Robinson pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing, with a jury trial scheduled for May 2026. His case is among those The Star has recently highlighted.
Charged in Utah sting
In the fall of 2017, KCFD employee John Eller and his brother were arrested for possession of large amounts of marijuana, the arbitration document said. Eller resigned from the KCFD at the end of December 2017, it said, but had not been disciplined.
According to a court document filed in the criminal case, two men in a truck were stopped by a California Highway Patrol officer on Oct. 11, 2017. The officer smelled marijuana and searched the truck, it said, finding about 110 pounds of marijuana in the bed, $42,020 cash in backpacks inside the truck and two handguns.
One of the men, identified in the document as A.M., said the truck belonged to John Eller and his recently deceased brother. The address on the truck’s registration matched Eller’s Kansas City address.
A.M. told authorities that he was to transport the marijuana to Missouri and sell it for double what he paid for it. Two days later, the court filing said, California investigators learned that A.M. and his accomplice, M.B., had left some items in an Airbnb rental. There, authorities seized about 40 more pounds of marijuana and $39,980 in cash.
Investigators allowed the truck to be returned to its owner, the document said, and on Nov. 2, 2017, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Salt Lake City saw the truck at Eller’s address in Kansas City.
That same day, the filing said, California investigators contacted DEA agents in Salt Lake City and said that an undercover officer was negotiating to sell 100 pounds of marijuana to Nicholas Eller, another brother of John Eller. The two were to meet in the Salt Lake City area, where Nicholas Eller was to pay the undercover officer $130,000 for the marijuana.
On Nov. 7, 2017, Nicholas Eller was arrested at a Salt Lake City restaurant when he arrived to make the deal with the undercover agent. Meanwhile, John Eller had attempted to call his brother and when he couldn’t reach him, left the residence he was at. Authorities arrested him as he was walking away. Agents searched the residence and discovered three heat-sealing machines and about $145,000 cash, the court document said.
While John Eller was being transported to the DEA office to be interviewed, the document said, he asked the officer, “So, what made you decide to be a cop?”
“The officer responded, ‘Well, I wanted to right the world of some wrongs, and make things better in a small way.’ John Eller then said, ‘well, you put a big dent in some wrongs today.’”
In April 2018, John Eller — who was 22 at the time — pleaded guilty in federal court in Utah to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He was sentenced in July 2018 to time served and placed on 36 months supervised release.
The arbitration document said that in December 2019, Eller requested re-employment with the Kansas City Fire Department and appealed to the Bureau of Emergency Services to retain his EMT license. His request regarding his EMT license was granted, it said, and he was re-hired by the fire department as a firefighter/EMT.
“Since being returned to duty, Eller has served honorably and without incident; and, in fact, since his return, he has attained his Paramedic License,” the arbitration document said.
Fire truck struck, killed 7-year-old
In 2009, a fire truck driven by KCFD employee Chris DePaul struck and killed a 7-year-old boy while heading to a call at 12th Street and Chestnut Avenue, according to the information Local 42 provided to the arbitrator.
A Kansas City police report said DePaul braked and swerved to the right to try to avoid hitting the boy in a crosswalk at Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue as he was walking home from school. The report said the boy probably ran into the side of the truck and fell under the rear wheels.
The report also said a large moving truck or city bus that was trying to yield to the fire truck may have prevented DePaul from seeing the boy sooner.
Prosecutors decided not to file charges in the case. The boy’s parents named DePaul in a wrongful-death lawsuit, the arbitration document said. The suit claimed DePaul failed to use the highest level of care while driving through a school zone route at 3:30 p.m. instead of taking an alternate route.
The city reached a $280,000 settlement with the boy’s parents in 2011. DePaul was not disciplined for his actions, the union told the arbitrator.
The union also included a 2006 case in the information it provided to the arbitrator. It said KCFD employee Roschelle Williams was involved in a motor vehicle accident in which a civilian was killed.
Williams suffered injuries, including PTSD, that left her unable to work. Williams was not disciplined, the document said. It provided no additional details about the case.
Drove fire trucks without valid license
The union also cited the case of former KCFD employee Jonathan Stanley, who was involved in a deadly crash with a car on Christmas Eve 1998 that occurred while he was driving a fire truck near Ninth Street and Prospect Avenue. The crash killed a 46-year-old man.
“During the investigation, it came to light that Stanley had been driving KCFD fire apparatuses for an extended period of time, without a valid driver’s license,” the document said. “As a result, Stanley was charged with violating certain KCFD Rules and Regulations, to wit: operating a city vehicle, without a valid driver’s license; failure to notify his Battalion Chief that his license had been suspended; making false statements regarding his license, with the intent to cover up or deceive; and failure to cooperate in a lawful investigation.”
For those infractions, the union said in the arbitration document, Stanley received a two-shift (48-hour) suspension and was not allowed to drive a fire truck or work overtime for a number of shifts. He was not disciplined for his involvement in the crash, it said.
The Star found that Stanley had a valid license at the time of the crash but had previously been cited three times for driving a car on a suspended license. And six months before the crash, after a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper reported Stanley to fire department officials, they barred him from driving until his license was reinstated a month later.
In Biscari’s case, the city argued that his situation was different because the felonies he was charged with occurred while he was on duty as a firefighter, while the felonies committed by other firefighters occurred when they were off duty, Shurin said in the arbitration opinion.
The city also argued that none of the motor vehicle accidents noted by Local 42 — which occurred while the firefighters were on duty — resulted in felony charges.
But Shurin wasn’t swayed by those arguments.
“I find that the difference between a felony charge resulting from an incident while on duty versus off duty is not so distinguishable as to be the basis of substantially different discipline,” he wrote.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM.
